[sewingmummy]

Hello,

I’m currently sewing my first Oliver & S pattern, and love it. The instructions are so clear. Unfortunately, I’ve become stuck, but it’s not the fault of the pattern, rather me I think!!

I am at the final stage of pinning the pants to the bodice, to sew the two pieces together. However, I’ve tried to pin and baste multiple times but my pieces just don’t match up. The pants part seems to be too big – I think I must have made my seams too narrow (or too wide on the bodice part).

Is there a way to rescue it so that I can reduce the circumference of the pants part?? I hope this makes sense?

[April Henry]

Get comfy in an easy chair, grab a needle and spool of thread and baste it by hand – easing in the excess evenly. It takes a bit of time but can save you much frustration when actually sewing it in place by machine. Hand-basting will be much, much easier than pinning in this case. You’ll be surprised how much ease you can work in – I had to make a good save only recently with the same operator-error with the Music Box dress. Hand-basting became my best friend whilst listening to an old classic movie. 🙂

[sewingmummy]

Hello.. thanks… I had already been trying hand basting, but not actually with purposefully trying to ease in the extra (I thought by hand basting I could make it more accurate and therefore it would all match up – haha). Baby has just gone to sleep so I will pour myself a glass of wine and give it another go!! Thanks for the tip.

[sewingmummy]

April1930s, thank you so much for the tip!! I managed it! What I did was to first pin together all the bits that DID have to match up, ie line up the side seams, and line up the centre seam with the centre marking. I then hand basted. It was fiddly, but I managed to ease in the excess, and I’ve just sewn it together and you can’t tell at all! I am so excited, that the pattern is almost finished. I am just waiting for my snap tape to arrive (ordered from E-bay) before I finish the crotch area. I will post picks on to the flickr group as soon as I am done 🙂

[claireabel]

Can’t wait to see it – I love this pattern. And off topic, but it’s good to know wine and sewing is a successful marriage!

[April Henry]

OH – this is great news!!! I meant to say, too, that if you have seams or centers that need perfectly aligned, then sometimes it’s best to start there and work halfway then come back and begin at the same spot working the other direction…. so as to ease in evenly.

Glad the wine/sewing marriage worked well. 🙂

My mainstay is coffee.

[sewingmummy]

Hello, I finally finished this!! I love how it turned out and it is such a professional looking pattern. The only bit I am not entirely happy with is the snap tape area around the crotch, I inadvertently ordered pre-cut snap tape and it wasn’t quite long enough, so I sewed it on differently to the instructions.

It’s on flickr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/53368936@N06/5254408952/in/pool-oliverands – not a great photo so I hope to take one of her wearing it soon!

thanks again for your help 🙂

[sewingmummy]

Here is a photo of her in it – http://www.flickr.com/photos/53368936@N06/5254502834/in/pool-oliverands

[Adrienne]

I am currently working on my second tea party sundress and have run into the same problem….again. I am going to try hand basting when I have a minute to pick it up again. I was meticulously following the pattern instructions and going super slow to try and avoid this same issue, but now I’m thinking maybe I traced a wrong line somewhere when tracing the pattern. If I make another one before my daughter outgrows this size, I think I’m going to try this. Instead of sewing the bodice together with a 1/2 inch seam, I’m going to sew them together with a 1/4 inch seam. The directions have you sew this 1/2″ then trim to 1/4″…….I’m hoping that this will help with the extra ‘ease’ that I have when attaching the bodice and skirt. Then when I trace another size, I’ll be sure to be more careful in my tracing.

[Sarvi]

You know, I have made this pattern about eighty times and my top and bottom halves still never match up perfectly. I think no matter how careful I am to try to really perfect half-inch seams, I’m off a tiny bit each time, and with 6 (is it 6?) seams in the skirt, it adds up — even just a 1/16th of an inch off in cutting or sewing and you’re 3/8 off by the time you’re done.

[Adrienne]

Sarvi, you just made me feel so much better! Glad to know it’s not just me! ; )

Thank goodness the end result is always precious though! ; )